<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
<html>
<head>
<!-- Copyright 1997 The Open Group, All Rights Reserved -->
<title>chown</title>
</head><body bgcolor=white>
<center>
<font size=2>
The Single UNIX &reg; Specification, Version 2<br>
Copyright &copy; 1997 The Open Group

</font></center><hr size=2 noshade>
<h4><a name = "tag_001_014_054">&nbsp;</a>NAME</h4><blockquote>
chown - change the file ownership
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_055">&nbsp;</a>SYNOPSIS</h4><blockquote>
<pre><code>

chown <b>[</b>-R<b>] </b><i>owner</i><b>[</b>:<i>group</i><b>] </b><i>file</i> ...
</code>
</pre>
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_056">&nbsp;</a>DESCRIPTION</h4><blockquote>
The
<i>chown</i>
utility will set the user ID of the file named by each
<i>file</i>
operand to the user ID
specified by the
<i>owner</i>
operand.
<p>
For each
<i>file</i>
operand,
it will perform actions equivalent to the <b>XSH</b> specification
<i><a href="../xsh/chown.html">chown()</a></i>
function, called with the following arguments:
<ol>
<p>
<li>
The
<i>file</i>
operand will be used as the
<i>path</i>
argument.
<p>
<li>
The user ID indicated by the
<i>owner</i>
portion of the first
operand will be used as the
<i>owner</i>
argument.
<p>
<li>
If the
<i>group</i>
portion of the first operand is given, the
group ID indicated by it will be used as the
<i>group</i>
argument;
otherwise, the group ID of the file will be used as the
<i>group</i>
argument.
<p>
</ol>
<p>
Unless
<i>chown</i>
is invoked by a process with appropriate privileges,
the set-user-ID
and set-group-ID
bits of a regular file will be cleared upon successful completion;
the set-user-ID
and set-group-ID
bits of other file types may be cleared.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_057">&nbsp;</a>OPTIONS</h4><blockquote>
The
<i>chown</i>
utility supports the <b>XBD</b> specification, <a href="../xbd/utilconv.html#usg"><b>Utility Syntax Guidelines</b>&nbsp;</a> .
<p>
The following option is supported:
<dl compact>

<dt><b>-R</b>
<dd>Recursively change file user IDs, and if the
<i>group</i>
operand is specified, group IDs.
For each
<i>file</i>
operand that names a directory,
<i>chown</i>
changes the user and group ID of the directory and all files
in the file hierarchy below it.

</dl>
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_058">&nbsp;</a>OPERANDS</h4><blockquote>
The following operands are supported:
<dl compact>

<dt><i>owner</i><b>[</b>:<i>group</i><b>]</b><dd>
A user ID and optional group ID to be assigned to
<i>file</i>.
The
<i>owner</i>
portion of this operand must be a
user name from the user database or a numeric user ID.
Either specifies a user ID
to be given to each file named by one of the
<i>file</i>
operands.
If a numeric
<i>owner</i>
operand exists in the user database as a
user name, the user ID number associated
with that user name will be used as the user ID.
Similarly, if the
<i>group</i>
portion of this operand is present, it
must be a group name from the group database or a numeric group ID.
Either specifies a group ID to be given to each file.
If a numeric group operand exists in the group database as a group
name, the group ID number associated with that group name will be
used as the group ID.

<dt><i>file</i><dd>A pathname of a file whose user ID is to be modified.

</dl>
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_059">&nbsp;</a>STDIN</h4><blockquote>
Not used.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_060">&nbsp;</a>INPUT FILES</h4><blockquote>
None.
<br>
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_061">&nbsp;</a>ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES</h4><blockquote>
The following environment variables affect the execution of
<i>chown</i>:
<dl compact>

<dt><i>LANG</i><dd>Provide a default value for the internationalisation variables
that are unset or null.
If
<i>LANG</i>
is unset or null, the corresponding value from the
implementation-dependent default locale will be used.
If any of the internationalisation variables contains an invalid setting, the
utility will behave as if none of the variables had been defined.

<dt><i>LC_ALL</i><dd>
If set to a non-empty string value,
override the values of all the other internationalisation variables.

<dt><i>LC_CTYPE</i><dd>
Determine the
locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as
characters (for example, single- as opposed to multi-byte characters
in arguments).

<dt><i>LC_MESSAGES</i><dd>
Determine the locale that should be used to affect
the format and contents of diagnostic
messages written to standard error.

<dt><i>NLSPATH</i><dd>
Determine the location of message catalogues
for the processing of
<i>LC_MESSAGES .
</i>
</dl>
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_062">&nbsp;</a>ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS</h4><blockquote>
Default.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_063">&nbsp;</a>STDOUT</h4><blockquote>
Not used.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_064">&nbsp;</a>STDERR</h4><blockquote>
Used only for diagnostic messages.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_065">&nbsp;</a>OUTPUT FILES</h4><blockquote>
None.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_066">&nbsp;</a>EXTENDED DESCRIPTION</h4><blockquote>
None.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_067">&nbsp;</a>EXIT STATUS</h4><blockquote>
The following exit values are returned:
<dl compact>

<dt>0<dd>The utility executed successfully and all requested changes were made.

<dt>&gt;0<dd>An error occurred.

</dl>
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_068">&nbsp;</a>CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS</h4><blockquote>
If, when invoked with the
<b>-R</b>
option,
<i>chown</i>
attempts but fails to change the user ID
or,
if the
<i>group</i>
operand is specified, group ID,
of a particular file in a specified file hierarchy,
it will continue to process the
remaining files in the hierarchy.
<p>
If
<i>chown</i>
cannot read or search a
directory within a hierarchy, it will continue to process
the other parts of the hierarchy that are accessible.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_069">&nbsp;</a>APPLICATION USAGE</h4><blockquote>
Only the owner of a file or the user with appropriate privileges
may change
the owner or group of a file.
<p>
Some systems restrict the use of
<i>chown</i>
to a user with appropriate privileges.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_070">&nbsp;</a>EXAMPLES</h4><blockquote>
None.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_071">&nbsp;</a>FUTURE DIRECTIONS</h4><blockquote>
None.
</blockquote><h4><a name = "tag_001_014_072">&nbsp;</a>SEE ALSO</h4><blockquote>
<i><a href="chmod.html">chmod</a></i>,
<i><a href="chgrp.html">chgrp</a></i>,
the <b>XSH</b> specification description of
<i><a href="../xsh/chown.html">chown()</a></i>.
</blockquote><hr size=2 noshade>
<center><font size=2>
UNIX &reg; is a registered Trademark of The Open Group.<br>
Copyright &copy; 1997 The Open Group
<br> [ <a href="../index.html">Main Index</a> | <a href="../xshix.html">XSH</a> | <a href="../xcuix.html">XCU</a> | <a href="../xbdix.html">XBD</a> | <a href="../cursesix.html">XCURSES</a> | <a href="../xnsix.html">XNS</a> ]

</font></center><hr size=2 noshade>
</body></html>
